"So that’s how it is. Why?" Blake asked with an enraged expression. 

"Because…….. I wanted to." Leila said with a playful smile.

"Because you wanted to?" He muttered as if unable to believe what he heard.

"Ha, did you expect a different answer?" Leila said. "Did you think I would answer you just because you wanted to? Or did you think I don’t know that you just want to buy some time to heal your wound?" She said as he looked at Blake with ridicule.

"Yeah, I know. So is it working?" 

"……." As he heard her, Blake's expression became gloomier and he glared at her silently.

"Hum, from your expression, you should have noticed it isn’t working. Normal, considering how many curses I put on you. A simple rejuvenation spell is not going to work. Poor Blake."  She said with a smile.

"So, you are really going to stand against me." He asked as if he just realized that Leila truly betrayed him. "You are going to regret it."

"Well, I don’t know but I am sure the others would have expressed their regrets if they were still alive." She said with a giggle.

"Wait, don’t tell me… " Blake muttered as he seemed to realize something. He was curious as to why the beast never attacked him until now. But as he heard Leila talk, he figured that he was never its target. Immediately, he turned his head toward the place where Blake and Rin should be, hoping that he could be wrong.

"They are dead." He said, his mind in turmoil as he saw the corpse of his two friends lying on the ground as dead as they could be.

"Yeah sweetie, your     friends    are      all     dead. All! It is all your fault, Blake. Bel warned you but you didn’t listen … Look what you did for the sake of your greed. You promised they would be safe with you and yet… " Leila whispered softly as if she didn’t want him to hear her. Still, her voice as if echoing with his already guilty consciousness was able to resound in the deepest part of his mind. At the same time, he unconsciously turned his gaze around and looked at the corpses of his companions. With each corpse he saw, the guilt that was growing in his heart became heavier and heavier.  

"Shut up, Leila. It is your fault too." He said as his bloodshot eyes turned toward Leila.

'Is it going to work?' Leila thought as she wondered if her plan could work. As she knew that Blake was going to be a tough opponent to handle, Leila planned to weaken him as much as possible before they really started to fight. Thus, other than casting a plethora of curses on him, she was trying to take advantage of the situation to heavily disturb his state of mind with her sound magic. And if possible, make him go berserk like Bel. But, she didn’t think it would work since, as a wizard, the mental strength of Blake was on a completely different level compared to the mental strength of someone like Bel.

'Well, I won't lose anything trying…. Maybe he will get a little bit angrier.' She thought before turning toward and continuing -No... It is you who killed them. She said in her sweet and hypnotic voice.

"It shouldn’t have gone like this. This isn’t what I wanted." He said with a confused and regretful expression.

"Then, you should at least get revenge for them, right? The cursed beast that killed them, will you let it go? Shouldn’t you give your life to slay it?" She asked.

"You are right." He said as a wave of cold air blasted around him.

***

A few moments ago, just before Bel’s final attack.

"Hey, Leo, we can still do something smart, you know?" Celia said suddenly.

"Oh! What?" 

"Run, obviously or is there anything smarter to do when you are about to find yourself in front of a rank B." She said with a serious expression.

"Yes, but he isn’t a true rank B. From what Leila told me, he would obtain a magic power equivalent to a rank B and have access to spells of the same rank for a short while. That's all."

"Yes, but that is enough, don’t you think? Also, are you just going to believe whatever that girl told you?" She asked.

"Just trust me, alright? Or you can leave if you want. Though, I would be happy if you stay." Leo said. It would be useless to say more and it wasn’t the time to start an argument. It wasn’t that he was unable to understand her feelings nor that he was reckless. It was just that he had something that made him confident to resist Blake. 

First, the current situation was extremely advantageous for him as he was in a forest and it was nighttime. With his forest king and night prowler title, his power was up by 60%. Lastly, there was the focus skill that could increase his magic power by 300%. Even though he didn’t know by how much the power of a rank B increased, he was sure he could hold on with this.

Besides, he wasn’t alone. If Leila was willing to confront him despite knowing his capabilities, she should have something she could rely on. He didn’t believe that it was on him she was counting on to succeed.

"I am not the type to leave my people behind when the situation looks bad." Celia answered without hesitation. "I am not ready to leave my sister behind either, so let’s beat this guy quickly." She also added.

"Yes, let’s do that." He said as the two of them focused on the confrontation between Blake and Bel. Soon, it reached its climax, and just as they planned they started acting.

Celia started casting a spell to attack Blake while Leo used shadow jump for the first time.

"Let’s go." He thought as he used shadow jump. The moment he cast the skill, it was like his body was ‘dematerialized’ for the lack of a better word. He seemed to have lost his physical substance and then he found himself inside a shadow.

'This is interesting but definitely not something a claustrophobe should try.' He muttered as he found himself inside a cold and dark place.

'Still, why does it feel like this is where I belong?' He muttered as he could feel a certain sense of comfort and belonging to this place. As he stayed in the shadows, he quickly familiarized himself with the place and get a better understanding of it.

Each shadow was a world of its own but also a part of something much bigger, the shadow plane. However, as his mastery over the skill was still low, he could only move within the shadow he was inside and couldn’t enter the shadow plane yet. 

While inside a shadow, he could easily sense whatever was happening in the outside world but he couldn’t interact with the material plane unless he left the shadow. Meaning, he couldn’t attack while staying in the shadow. 

Lastly, to jump into a different shadow, he just had to select a shadow within his range and he would instantly be transported into it. In other, shadow jump was like some kind of blink skill that uses shadow as a marker and allows him to instantly move between them.

'All that is interesting but I have work to do.' He muttered as he moved toward his targets. Bel and Rin. He chose to kill them first because he wanted to get as powerful as he could be before fighting against Blake. He had already leveled two times when he killed the guardian and the midget, bringing his level to 13. Now he hoped to be able to reach level 15 by killing those two. 

Other than that, there was also the fact that Leila said their death could deal a blow to Blake. So, he would be killing two birds with one stone by killing them.

Thus, in an instant, Leo reached Bel and Rin. As for what happened after that, there was no need to talk about it as it couldn’t be more obvious. The two adventurers were swiftly taken care of before Blake could even notice something and Leo returned into the shadow.

As for whether he was ashamed of killing weakened and defenseless opponents. Well, he would care about it when he can afford to spare his enemies.

'Tsk, just a few points shy of level 15.' Leo muttered as he checked his level.

"Time to invest my wealth then." He muttered as he quickly distributed his unused attribute points and level some skills. As it was his magic power that was going to determine the outcome of the fight, he put most of his points into Intelligence and spirit. He then put the remaining one into Constitution to be safer.

As for the skills, leveling a rank D took 2SP per level and 3SP for the last level. Rank C skills cost 3SP per level. 

As for the bloodline skills, they were a little more expensive. The shadow cat skills cost 2SP per level and 4SP for the last level. Meanwhile, the Winged Lion skills cost 3SP per level for the moment.

It was because, no matter his rank, his bloodline skills would never lose their powers while ranked C will be unable to keep up as he ranks up.

[Name: Leo

Race: Winged Atlas Lion

Rank: D

Qualification: Advanced

Title: Reincarnated, Forest King, Pride Leader, ???

Status: Healthy

Level: 14/ 15

Exp: 12700/14000

HP:42400

MP:77920

Stamina: 16960

CONS:  327 => 369 (55)

STR:  357 => 369 (55)

AGI:  368 => 377 (94)

INT:  317=> 406 (81)

SPI:  191=> 247 (49)

CHA:  94

LUK:  15

AP:  130=> 160=> 0

SP: 70 => 82=> 30 

Skills: 

General:...

Rank E:...

Rank D: Shadow spike Lv4=> Lv5, Toxic Ball Lv1=> Lv4

Rank C: Basic wind manipulation Lv1 => Lv3, Wind steps Lv1 => Lv3, Shadow jump Lv1 => Lv3

Shadow Cat: Shadow Body Lv3 => Lv5, Shadow Ball Lv4 => Lv5

Winged Atlas Lion: Basic sand manipulation Lv2 => Lv4, Earth guard Lv1=> Lv4]

A/N: I only displayed the skills who were leveled up.

 As he was done, he finally focused on the ongoing drama between Blake and Leila. When he saw how Blake was about to lose control, he couldn’t help but shudder as he understood how dangerous Leila's powers were. 

"I am a witch specializing in sound and curse magic, you don’t want to fight me. Nobody can escape my grasp." She said when he asked her what her power was.

"But it looks like it isn’t going to work today." Leo muttered as he readied himself for a fight.